In the first half of its 2012/13 financial year (ending 31 October), the Infranor Group, a specialist in industrial automation, matched last year's profit figure of 0.4 million CHF, while sales fell by 10.7 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year, down from 23.2 million CHF to 20.7 million CHF. The situation appears unlikely to change over the coming months, with the two divisions - Infranor and Cybelec - issuing cautious forecasts for the second half of the year.


Mirroring the economic situation

The slowdown in business, which the Infranor Group progressively began to feel from autumn 2011 onwards, has worsened over the past six months. Throughout the world, no geographical region and no market segment has been totally spared. At the end of the first half of the year, orders received fell by 8 per cent, down from 21.9 million CHF as at 31 October 2011 to 20.2 million CHF, while sales dropped by 11 per cent from 23.2  million CHF to 20.7 million CHF over the same period. In contrast, the efforts made to control material costs of goods purchased and operating costs, both of which fell in line with the decline in business activity, enabled the Group to post a profit after taxes of 0.4 million CHF, equalling last year's figure.

Performance of the divisions

Although the Group's customers have been affected by the decline in manufacturing investment, they have remained loyal to the products and services offered by the Infranor Division (65 per cent of total sales). A number of French, Italian, German and Chinese customers placed higher orders than last year, offsetting the decline recorded by the entities in Spain. The division posted total sales for the period of 13.4 million CHF, down from 14.3 million CHF a year earlier. General expenses and depreciation and amortisation increased by 0.2 million CHF year-on-year to 6.8 million CHF, due in particular to higher commercial expenses and operating costs.  As a result, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) stand at 1.0 million CHF, 8 per cent of the Infranor Division's sales (31 October 2011: 1.9 million CHF or 13 per cent of the division's sales).

The Cybelec Division (35 per cent of total sales) has experienced falling demand in its market segment for over a year now, due to the current adoption worldwide of more restrictive policies regarding investment in infrastructure. Compared with the situation as at 31 October 2011, orders received fell by 15 per cent to 7.5 million CHF during the first half of the financial year (8.8 million CHF one year ago), while sales shrank by 18 per cent to 7.4 million CHF (8.9 million CHF). The action taken to reorganise the assembly of Cybelec products, to optimise material purchasing processes and to keep operating costs under control resulted in EBIT of 0.1 million CHF (as against a loss of 0.1 million CHF this time last year).


Outlook

Although Infranor is well placed, offering automation solutions optimised for specific sectors, the company remains dependent on modest global growth, linked to numerous economic and political uncertainties. This therefore makes it difficult to produce forecasts for several months down the line. Nevertheless, the Group is aiming for sales totalling some 41 million CHF and profit after taxes of 0.8 million CHF (2011/12 financial year: 46.4 million CHF and 1.1 million CHF respectively).




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